Gamble Everything For Love
by psych21
Summary: Extreme AU. Carter and Lucy meet at a medical conference in Las Vegas. Things happen one night and they end up married. Will they take a gamble on each other or should what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas?
1. Chapter 1

Gamble Everything For Love

Chapter One

Lucy woke up groggy, squinting as the sunlight came shining through the curtains and assaulted her eyes. After a few moments her eyes adjusted to the light and she wondered how late it must be for the sun to be so bright. She looked to the side table next to the bed but didn't see a clock. With a heavy sigh, she rolled on to her back. That's when she felt and saw it.

Draped across her bare midsection was a man's arm.

It took every ounce of willpower in her body not to scream as she racked her brain to figure out why there was a man in her bed. Her memory of the night before was fuzzy. She remembered with absolute clarity coming to Las Vegas for the medical conference. All of the lectures she went to were engrained in her memory. The last thing she remembered clearly was getting dressed to go to the mixer in hotel ballroom.

There was no denying it though. There was definitely a man sleeping on his stomach with his arm draped around her. His face was turned the other way so all she could see was a mop of messy brown hair. She knew he didn't have a shirt on, but couldn't see if he had any kind of pants. She knew from the way the sheets felt against her skin that the only thing she had on was a bra and underwear.

After her last breakup before she started her residency, life got hectic and dating was last on her list of priorities. It seemed like too much trouble for such a small reward. But she had slept with a handful of guys in the past several years, preferring to keep relationships physical but not emotional. And she didn't stay the night, so waking up next to a man was surprising to her.

She tried to remember who she had apparently slept with last night. It only took a few moments to recall.

John Carter.

He was an ER doctor from Chicago…one of the county funded hospitals if she remembered correctly. They met at the mixer in the lobby of the hotel last night.

She toyed with the idea of trying to get out of bed without waking him but before she could make up her mind, he started to stir. He moved his arm off of her body and she watched as he turned his head to face her. She thought she saw a look of surprise on his face for a moment before it was masked with a blank stare.

"Good morning." She said, unable to think of anything witty or clever to say.

"Um, well I guess that remains to be seen." He replied with a chuckle, sitting up in the bed. The bed sheets pooled around his midsection but he made no effort to cover his chest.

It was definitely a well-defined, muscular chest. He wasn't a body builder and he didn't have a six pack of abs, but he was toned in all of the right places. There was only a little patch of chest hair in the middle of his chest, leading downward.

Suddenly she was bombarded by a memory of last night.

 _They kissed. When they pulled apart, she pushed him so that he fell back on to the bed. She straddled his lap and grinned at him._

" _What are you doing?" He asked with a chuckle._

" _You'll see." She answered as she started unbuttoning his white dress shirt. Every time she unbuttoned one of the buttons she would pull apart the shirt and kiss the bare skin she had exposed._

" _You're beautiful Mrs. Carter." He said, putting his finger under her chin and bringing her eyes up to meet his._

" _You're not so bad yourself Mr. Carter." She giggled._

Her eyes got wide as saucers. That wasn't right. She had to have been imagining that part. That couldn't have been a memory. Unless…

She brought her left hand up and was horrified to find a shiny gold band on her ring finger. "What…what the hell did we do last night?" She flipped her hand so he could see the band on her finger.

His eyes got wide as he slowly brought his left hand up. He laughed loudly. "Huh. I guess we have a matching set."

"This isn't funny." She scolded him. "Did we really get married?

"Why else would we have wedding rings on?"

"Oh my God." She wrapped the sheets around her body tightly. Not only did she sleep with someone she barely knew, she also married him.

"What do you remember about last night?" He asked.

"Not much." She shook her head. "What about you?"

"Same." He sighed. "What time is it?"

"It's almost 7." She said after looking at the clock.

He got up off the bed, not worrying about taking the sheet with him. She got an eyeful as she realized he was naked under the sheet. She tried to avert her eyes as he walked around the hotel room to collect his clothes but couldn't seem to stop staring. He seemed oblivious to her ogling.

"We have another full day of boring lectures today that start in two hours." He reminded her.

"Yeah." She sighed.

"Do you want to shower first?" He asked.

"You go ahead." She replied, realizing for the first time that they were in his hotel room.

"Alright." He said, disappearing into the bathroom.

She couldn't believe he was being so calm about this. She was freaking out but he was fine about the fact that they were married. She got up from the bed once she heard the water turn on in the bathroom. Her clothes had been strewn across the room the same as his. It didn't take her long to find them all and put them on. The sooner she got her clothes on, the sooner she could go back to her own room and take a hot shower.

She found her purse on the table in front of the window and picked it up, only to find a photo and a piece of paper underneath. The picture was of them. His arm was wrapped around her waist and he was staring intently at her face with a smile on his face. She had her head thrown back in a fit of laughter and her arm was around his neck. She flipped the photo over and saw the logo for A Little White Wedding Chapel.

The paper underneath the photo was a marriage license. She looked closer and found that it was for them. They had gotten it last night and then gotten married at one of the wedding chapels on the strip. She was now Lucy Carter instead of Lucy Knight.

"Oh my God." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "This is a nightmare."

She had to get out of there before she lost it so she grabbed her purse, the photo and the license. Then she practically sprinted out the door.

* * *

Carter came out of the bathroom after his shower with his towel hanging around his hips. He was hoping that Lucy would still be there and was disappointed when she wasn't in the room. Although he told her that he didn't remember much, he actually remembered pretty much everything.

" _C'mon Carter, let's go." Peter Benton rolled his eyes._

" _Ok." He sighed. While he would have liked to skip the mixer, it didn't seem like Peter was going to let him. They had arrived late last night for the trauma medical conference. All day he had been going from lecture hall to lecture hall and hearing countless other doctors or surgeons drone on about topics relating to emergency trauma techniques._

 _Some of the lectures were actually fairly interesting, but the majority of them were boring. He had met several of the other participants and they were all boring too._

 _Peter wouldn't let him skip the mixer and told him this morning that going to everything on the agenda was his duty since County somehow managed to scrape together the money to send them both this year._

 _In all honesty though he would have been happier staying in his hotel room and ordering room service._

 _When they got to the entrance of the ballroom, where the mixer was being held, Peter looked at him. "Ok, go mingle."_

" _We're not mingling together?" He chuckled._

" _No, Carter, we're not." Peter smirked. "Now go on. Talk to some people and make some new friends."_

 _Carter shook his head and immediately headed to the bar. "Scotch please."_

" _Make it two if you don't mind." Came a voice from beside him._

 _He looked over and saw a beautiful blonde in a dark blue cocktail dress. "I don't think we have met. My name is John Carter."_

" _Lucy Knight." She held out her hand._

" _Lucy, I don't know a lot of women who drink scotch." He smiled, shaking her hand._

" _Then you aren't meeting the right kind of women." She smirked. "I'm here from St. Louis."_

" _I'm from Chicago, County General Hospital."_

" _Let me guess." She paused. "I'm good at guessing these things. You're here representing the emergency medicine side?"_

" _Yeah." He nodded. "Though I started in surgery first."_

" _Really? Why did you change?"_

 _He shrugged. "I liked surgery. I was ok at it, but it wasn't something I was passionate about and it wasn't something I felt like I could be exceptional at long term. Being in the ER though…that I was passionate about and I seemed to have more of an aptitude for it. So I switched. How did you guess that I was emergency medicine?"_

" _Just a useless little talent I have." She laughed._

" _Ok." He chuckled, looking around for Peter. "How about we test your little talent? I'll point to someone else and you tell me what you think they are."_

" _You're on." She grinned. "Who are you going to pick?"_

 _He found Peter standing halfway across the room talking to a group of women. "Ok. See that guy in the black shirt talking to those women?"_

" _Yeah." She nodded._

" _What do you think he is?"_

" _Surgeon." She replied immediately. "No doubt about it."_

" _You're right." Carter chuckled. "That's quite an interesting skill. So are you a surgeon or an emergency medicine doctor?"_

" _I'm a surgeon." She answered._

" _You're a very cute surgeon." He told her, watching her blush._

 _She smiled at him and took her drink. "Well it was nice to meet you Dr. Carter."_

" _Wait!" He called out. "You aren't leaving me, are you?"_

" _I was planning on it." She smirked._

" _I was hoping we could talk more. Please stay."_

 _She looked like she was contemplating something. It took a few moments before she answered._

" _I guess I can stay for a little while longer."_

" _Excellent." He smiled. He led her to a nearby table and they sat down. "So how are you enjoying the conference so far?"_

 _She smirked. "Everyone has clearly put in a lot of effort into their presentations, but…"_

" _You find them boring too?" He guessed._

" _Yeah." She laughed. "I try to pay attention and learn something that I can take back to work but it's really difficult. Where do they find some of these people?"_

" _I don't know." He laughed. "I'm just glad I'm not the only one who feels that way."_

" _Oh you definitely aren't!" She assured him._

" _So aside from being a doctor, drinking scotch and looking great in dresses, what else should I know about Lucy Knight?"_

" _You're a bit of a flirt, aren't you?" She smirked._

" _Only with beautiful women who drink scotch." He admitted._

" _Well you should know that Lucy Knight didn't want to come to this mixer and is looking for any reason to leave." She explained._

" _That's a pretty huge coincidence because John Carter didn't want to come here tonight either and was hoping for a good excuse to leave." He told her._

" _Interesting." She smiled._

" _You know, we're in Las Vegas, we're young, and there isn't any reason why we couldn't duck out of here now and go have some fun on the strip." He suggested._

 _He watched as she downed the rest of her scotch and then placed the glass back on the table._

" _Why not?" She shrugged. "Let's go."_

 _He quickly drank the rest of his drink and then stood up, offering his arm for her to take._

He knew it wasn't nice to lie to her about remembering last night, but he could tell she was freaked out. This was his way of keeping her from freaking out even more.

She looked like she was panicking earlier. In any other circumstance, he probably would be panicking too. If someone had told him he would marry someone he had known for less than twelve hours, he would have laughed in their face. He knew they were both drunk last night, but it had been the best night of his life. There was something about her that he was already crazy about. He didn't want to get an annulment and then never see her again.

Maybe it was crazy to think that she might be the right woman for him after one drunken night…but it was a possibility. And he wanted a chance to find out. He had tried dating in Chicago with no luck. But the time he spent with her, even before they got drunk, made him happy and he felt free when he was with her. Looking at the clock, he realized he needed to get ready for the day. Peter would kill him if he missed any of the lectures today.

* * *

Lucy picked up her phone, tapping on recent calls and calling the top number. She knew that even though it was 8am in Las Vegas, it would be 10am in St Louis and Melissa, her best friend, would be awake.

"Hey. How is Las Vegas?" She greeted.

"Mel, I've made a big mistake." Lucy told her.

Mel laughed. "What did you do? Get married or something?"

"Actually…"

"Shut up!" Mel screamed. "Lucy, you actually got married? I was just kidding!"

"I got drunk last night and married a doctor that I met at the mixer." Lucy explained.

"Is he cute?"

"Mel!"

"What?" She chuckled.

"His looks are irrelevant." Lucy said, even though she didn't believe it herself. He was very attractive.

"It's a valid question."

"I have a picture from the wedding chapel. I'll text it you to you." She knew that if she didn't text it to Mel, she would be asked a million times about it. She put the phone on speaker and launched the photo app. Then she took a picture of their wedding photo and sent it. "Ok. Did you get it?"

"Yeah." Mel said. "Hold on."

There was silence for a couple of moments.

"Lucy…way to go! He is a hottie!" Mel complimented. "Is he good in bed?"

"Mel!"

"I'll take that as a yes. You never want to tell me about the good ones."

Lucy couldn't help but laugh. "What am I going to do?"

"What do you want to do?"

"Scream into a pillow." Lucy replied immediately. "I can't believe I was that irresponsible. I let myself get drunk and ended up married."

"You aren't the first one to do it." Mel pointed out. "And you won't be the last one either."

"We probably should get an annulment. I mean, he lives in Chicago…"

"What's his name?"

"John Carter." Lucy told her.

"And he is a doctor in Chicago?" Mel asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'm googling him." Mel answered.

Lucy laughed. There was no way to stop her friend from googling him. So she let her go. "Ok. What does it say about him?"

"Um…you're never going to believe this."

"What?" Lucy chuckled. "Is he already married, making our marriage null and void?"

"Nope. He was completely single." Mel replied. "But he is a part of the Carter family."

"So?" Lucy asked. "I'm part of the Knight family and you're part of the Peele family."

"No, you don't get it. He is a part of the Carter family…the Carter family that is one of the wealthiest families in all of Illinois. They donate millions to medical and fine arts causes all around Chicago every year."

"Stop!" Lucy chuckled. "You're making that up."

"I'm not!"

"So you're saying that I married…"

"A hottie doctor with a super rich family." Mel interrupted. "You hit the jackpot!"

"You know I don't care about money though." Lucy defended herself because Mel was making it sound like she was a gold-digger.

"I know that!" Mel told her. "But I'm just saying that even though you didn't try to, you landed the number one most eligible bachelor from Illinois according to Illinois Monthly. And he's won that title for the past four years. Though next year he might not be able to say that anymore if you stay married."

"Seriously?" Lucy couldn't believe that.

"I sent you the link in your email." Mel told her.

She quickly checked her email and pulled up the news article. It was titled "Healer of Hearts: John Carter is Chicago's Most Eligible Bachelor. She skimmed the first few paragraphs. "Wow."

"He's a good catch." Mel quipped.

"I didn't mean to catch him."

"I know. But maybe you should keep him instead of throwing him back."

"No, I think an annulment is the best way to handle this."

"Ok." Mel sighed. "It's your life. I think you're wrong through."

"I'll note your objection." Lucy snorted. "I should get ready for the day."

"Let me know how Dr. Carter takes the news of the impending annulment!" Mel said before hanging up.

Lucy threw her phone onto the bed and sighed. She had to wonder why he was still single. He was good looking, a doctor and his family was powerful. He probably attracted women to him everywhere he went. Why would he be unfazed by the fact that he was suddenly married?

She knew her own reasons for freaking out. She had grown used to not forming attachments to men and not depending on them for her happiness. It was a lot easier to just move on when things got weird or complicated. This whole thing was a mess. The only thing she knew for certain was that she needed to talk to him.


	2. One Month Free Trial

Gamble Everything For Love

Chapter Two

Lucy got up from her seat at the end of the third lecture of the day and slowly walked to the exit. Like the other two lectures, she had no idea what it was about. All morning her thoughts had drifted back to the fact that she was suddenly married and what to do about it.

To be honest, she wasn't sure she would ever get married. It was something she just kind of accepted as not happening in her life. She wasn't even sure she wanted to ever get married. But now she found herself married to a stranger.

He was a very attractive and nice stranger. But she didn't know enough about him to be married to him. She had thought about it and realized the only option that made any sense was to get an annulment. That way, they could pretend this never happened and go on their separate ways. There was something about the fact she would never see him again that made her sad though and she wasn't sure why.

She exited the room and looked at the program for the day. The next lecture she was supposed to go to started in five minutes. She debated what to do with the short amount of free time she had when she heard her name being called. She turned to see John coming towards her.

"Hey." He smiled, stopping a couple of feet away from her.

"Hi." She greeted back.

"Can we talk?"

"Now?" She chuckled.

"There's no time like the present." He told her.

"I have a lecture I should be going to."

"So do I." He nodded. "But I think this is more important. Don't you?"

She thought about it for a moment and had to agree with him. "Yeah. We should talk."

"You want to go outside?" He offered.

"Sure." She realized that was as good of a place as any to go talk. They were both quiet as they walked outside. There was a small garden that they headed to.

"So…this is a weird situation, isn't it?" He started with chuckle.

"Definitely." She nodded.

"I've never done anything like this before." He assured her. "I mean, I've gotten drunk before, but I've never gotten married while drunk. I've never actually gotten married at all until last night. I wasn't sure I'd even ever get married. I've had some girlfriends I thought about marrying, but it just never felt right. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I know exactly what you mean."

There was an awkward silence for a moment. "I found the wedding license and a photo." She pulled both out of her purse.

"There's a photo?" He asked with a smile.

"Yes." She nodded, wondering why that made him smile.

"Is it a good one?" He grabbed the photo from her hand and looked at it. "Yeah, it's a pretty good photo. I wouldn't mind having a copy of this."

"So what are we going to do about the fact that we are married?" She asked again.

"I'm not sure." He shrugged. "What do you want to do?"

"Why are you being so calm about this? You are now married to a stranger. I could be a psychopath for all you know." Lucy asked. She couldn't believe the way he was acting. Getting married was a big deal and they both married someone they barely knew last night. He should be freaking out about this at least a little.

"I just don't see it as a big deal." He explained with a smile. "You're not that bad. There are certainly worse people I could be married to."

She wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a backhanded insult, but either way she was getting mad. "We need to look into how to get an annulment."

"Why?" He chuckled.

"Why? You seriously just asked me why?" She pointed her finger at him. "Look, I don't know you very well and you certainly don't know me. But if you think for a moment that I'm going to stay married to someone I barely know then you are crazy."

"Ah, my wife's kind of cute when she's angry." He smirked.

"I'm not your wife!" She exclaimed.

"According to that marriage license you are." He pointed out.

"Well I'm not going to continue to be your wife." She countered. "We're getting an annulment."

"No we aren't." Carter shook his head.

"Yes we are." She told him.

"No we aren't." He chuckled.

"Why the hell not?" She sighed.

"Because I don't want an annulment, ok?" He told her.

"But I do!" She pointed out. "I don't know you and you don't know me. Why would we stay married?"

"Because I like you."

"That's not a good reason to stay married in a situation like this!" She exclaimed. "Besides, you don't know me well enough to like me!"

"I know more about you than you think."

"Fine." She smirked, deciding to test him. There was no way he would get this question correct. "Then what was my childhood nickname?"

"Lucyloo." Carter replied.

"How did…How did you know that?" She asked slowly. She didn't tell anyone that. Not even Melissa knew and she was her best friend.

"I may have not been entirely truthful earlier when I said I didn't remember anything from last night. I actually remember everything." He explained.

"And I told you my childhood nickname?" She was horrified because it was an embarrassing nickname.

"You told me a lot of things."

"Oh my God." She sighed. "What else did I tell you?"

"Just why you went into medicine and some other stuff." He answered. "We were sharing stories about our past, which is what you do when you meet someone new."

"Well you might know all of this stuff about me, but I don't have any significant memories of talking to you last night. So I don't know you like you think you know me."

"We can easily change that." He reminded her.

She couldn't help but look at him like he was crazy.

"We could start dating." He suggested.

"We live in different states."

"True. But we could talk every day and I have about a week of vacation time I can take." He said. "Do you have any vacation time coming up?"

"About a week." She admitted.

"I have an idea, and I realize it sounds crazy but hear me out." He said. "I like you. I want to get to know you more and I want you to get to know me. I realize we should have dated before we got married, but that's not how we did it so we just need to adjust. Give me a month. I'll take a week's vacation and come to St. Louis to stay with you and you can come up to Chicago and stay with me for a week. If at the end of the month you don't want to be married to me anymore, I'll file for the annulment myself and you'll never have to hear from me again."

She thought about it for a few moments. "I don't know…"

"Ok. Give me a night then." He bargained. "Have dinner with me tonight. Get to know me a little bit more before you decide to give us a month."

A dinner was a much easier commitment for her to make than a month. "Ok. We can have dinner and then I guess I'll make a decision."

A huge smile formed on his face. "Wonderful! Ok. Um…what room are you in?"

"Let's just meet in the lobby." She suggested.

"Ok." He nodded. "How about 6:30?"

"That's fine." She smiled.

"I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah." She nodded. They both stood there, neither of them moving. Finally, she gave him an awkward wave. Then she turned around and went back inside.

She thought that his original idea of giving their marriage thirty days was insane. But she could give it a chance tonight. He seemed to know a lot about her and still wanted to spend time with her, while she knew very little about him except what she saw in the magazine article. It couldn't hurt to get to know him a little before making the final decision.

* * *

"Carter!"

He turned around and saw Peter walking towards him. "Hey."

"Have you been going to the lectures?" He asked.

"Of course." Carter replied.

"Good." Peter nodded. "Listen, do you want to have dinner together tonight? We can discuss what we've learned. That way if Romano corners either of us, we have a more complete picture of what the other learned as well."

"Actually, I can't. I already have plans." Carter told him.

"Plans? With who?"

"My wife." Carter answered with a smirk.

"Look Carter, if you don't want to have dinner with me, just say so. Don't lie and invent stories. It's juvenile." Peter sighed.

"No…actually I have a wife now." Carter held up his left hand and watched as Peter stared at his hand and then his face.

"What the hell did you do last night?"

"Just normal Vegas stuff…" Carter laughed.

"Oh my God…" Peter laughed. "You actually got drunk and married a stranger? This is priceless!"

"It's not funny."

"Actually it is hilarious!" Peter laughed harder. "I never would have pegged you for this type man…"

"What type?"

"C'mon man…you know that getting married in a Vegas chapel to a relative stranger is…well it's beneath you to be honest. You're not the type who does stupid shit like that."

"Well maybe you don't know me as well as you think." Carter sighed.

"Don't be mad. I'm just saying…"

"It's fine." He cut Peter off before the man could say anything else to make him mad. Yeah, maybe it was unlike him to do something this spontaneous. He was the type who would over analyze everything a million times before making big decisions. But it was his life and he didn't need Peter judging him for marrying Lucy.

"I'm sorry if I made you mad. That wasn't my intention."

"It's fine." Carter sighed.

"I'm sure your wife is very nice."

"She is. She's great."

"Ok. I guess I'll just see you tomorrow morning in the lobby at 10 so we can carpool to the airport."

"Yup." Carter said, not bothering to say goodbye. He realized that this situation was unconventional. Marrying someone he hardly knew was out of character for him. But lately he felt like there was something missing from his life…like there was something wrong but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He got up in the morning and went to work, did his best every day to be present and attentive to the patients and then would come home. He'd watch television, maybe work out a little and then go to bed to do the same thing over and over. It wasn't hard to see that he had been stuck in a rut.

Maybe this was just what he needed to shake himself out of apathy. Maybe this was going to be a huge mistake. Maybe this was going to be the greatest thing to ever happen to him. Either way, he couldn't wait to find out. Ever since waking up next to Lucy this morning he felt reenergized.

* * *

"So you are going on a date with your husband tonight?" Mel chuckled.

After Lucy got out of the shower she Facetimed Mel and was telling her about her plans for the evening. "Yes, but please stop calling him my husband. It's a little weird."

"But he is your husband."

"I know." Lucy sighed.

"And now you're going on your first real date with your husband."

"This is so weird." Lucy sighed again. "Oh…I didn't tell you the other part. He wants me to agree to a trial coupling."

"Did he actually call it that?" Mel laughed. "Because it is kind of dorky."

"No." Lucy shook her head. "That's what I'm calling it. Basically he wants me to agree to dating and getting to know each other for a month. He wants to use his vacation to come see me in St. Louis and for me to use my vacation time to go to Chicago to see him."

"You know, he's pretty smart. That's not actually a bad idea."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's a brilliant plan." Mel observed. "You both get a chance to see the other person in their natural habitat. You also get a chance to see if you are compatible and if you could make a relationship work."

"But you know I don't do relationships."

"I know, but at some point you need to take a leap of faith. Why not take a leap and gamble on him?"

"I don't know." Lucy shook her head.

"Just think about it. Please?" Mel asked. "I want to see you happy so badly!"

"I'm happy." Lucy told her.

"You're content. That's not the same thing."

"Ok." Lucy replied, not wanting to fight about it. "I should finish getting ready. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Try to have fun and wear something revealing!" Mel reminded her before hanging up.

Lucy just shook her head and laughed. Mel was right about taking a leap of faith and she was probably right about happiness and contentedness not being the same thing. But was she ready to try and let someone into her life?

And was John Carter the right man to take a gamble on?

* * *

Carter fidgeted as he waited for Lucy to get to the lobby. He had gotten there ten minutes early, eager for a chance to spend time with her. He realized that selling her on the thirty day marriage trial was going to be difficult, but he had to try. He really didn't want to have to say goodbye to her tonight. He wanted more chances to get her to like him.

This was his one change to make her interested in him before they went their separate ways tomorrow and there was a lot riding on tonight so he made sure to get reservations at a nice restaurant. But it wasn't one that was too over the top because he didn't want to seem like he was trying too hard. He wanted to keep it as casual as possible while also making it special.

He was starting to get worried when it was 6:31 and she hadn't come down yet when he saw her. She was wearing a black cocktail dress with her hair curled and pulled away from her face. He smiled when he saw her and thought she looked amazing.

"Hi." She greeted with a small smile.

"Hi." He greeted back. "You look wonderful."

"Thanks." She replied. "I wasn't sure how fancy to get dressed up tonight."

"You look perfect." He said without thinking. She looked at him strangely and he could feel himself blush. There was something about her that made him feel like an awkward teenager.

"So where are we eating tonight?"

"I was thinking about Morels Steakhouse if that's alright with you."

"Sure." She nodded. "I enjoy a good steak."

"Wonderful. Let's go." He held out his arm for her to take, relieved when she didn't refuse.

* * *

It was a short cab ride to the restaurant, filled with small talk about the lectures they had heard earlier in the day. Talking about such a mundane thing usually would annoy her, but in this instance it made her feel less nervous. It took some of the pressure off. Then they got to the restaurant and she realized that he was serious about this being a date.

The restaurant was one of the nicest she had ever been to in her entire life. There were high vaulted ceilings with fancy chandeliers hanging down. Even the seats looked massively expensive. She smiled at John when he looked over at her on the way to their booth but on the inside she was anxious. It shouldn't have surprised her that he picked a nice restaurant. He was probably trying to impress her and, given his family's wealth, he was probably more accustomed to eating in places like this.

She smiled at the waiter as he handed her a menu.

"What do you think of the place?" He asked after the waiter was gone.

"It's very nice." She stated.

He stared at her face for a moment. "You don't like it."

She wondered how he knew that from what she said. It was a soft statement and didn't sound like an accusation. But the look on his face when he said it made her feel horrible.

"It's not that I don't like it." She sighed. "I'm just not used to places like this."

"We can leave if you want." He offered.

"No." She shook her head. Her anxiety over this place was silly. He had obviously wanted to make tonight nice for her. If they left now, she would feel terrible and wouldn't be able to enjoy anywhere they went. "It's not a problem. Really. Let's stay."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Positive." She smiled, grabbing his hand and giving it a short squeeze to emphasize her point.

"Ok." He nodded. "Do you want to get an appetizer?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "If you want to, we can do that."


	3. Dinner

Gamble Everything For Love

Chapter Three

"Here we go, two waters and two Glenlivet scotches." Their waiter announced, setting the drinks down in front of them. "Your bruschetta with smoked mozzarella will be out shortly. Can I get you anything else in the meantime?"

"No thank you." Carter smiled. "I propose a toast." He raised his glass of water.

"A toast?" She chuckled, raising her glass. "Oh this should be good."

"To the unexpected." He toasted. "I came to this convention thinking it was going to be a boring couple of days. And while most of the lectures were extremely boring, this weekend was not boring because I met you. Even if you decide we should get an annulment, I'm still grateful for the time we've had together."

She didn't say anything as they softly clinked their glasses together but he could tell that she was deep in thought.

"So I have a confession to make." She said a couple of moments after the toast was done. "I told my best friend about what happened and what your name was…and she googled you. So I now know that apparently your family is a big deal in Chicago and you have been the most eligible bachelor in Illinois for the past four years."

He laughed. "It's all true unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" She questioned. "Wouldn't most guys love that kind of attention?"

"Well being named the most eligible bachelor is more like a curse than anything else. Most women end up throwing themselves at you for all the wrong reasons…either they just want to be seen with you, they just want to date you because then they can tell the story that they dated you, or they just want to try and marry the most eligible bachelor to prove something to themselves or others. And the ones you wouldn't mind dating usually see you as too much of a playboy to take a chance on you or take you seriously. So you are left with very few acceptable options."

"I guess that makes sense."

"It doesn't help that my last name is Carter. They think I am filthy rich and powerful because of my family. But I'm not. Don't get me wrong…I do have a trust fund, but I don't touch it often and I'm particularly close to my family. The only one I see and talk to on a regular basis is my Gamma. I don't even know where my parents are at the moment and my sister has been living in Germany with her husband for the past six years. My brother died from Leukemia when I was a kid. The cousin I was closest to, Chase, died of a drug overdose three years ago and that strained the already fractured relationship I have with my grandfather so we don't talk anymore."

"I'm sorry." She told him.

"No…I'm sorry." He apologized. "I realize that may have been too much too soon."

She laughed. "That seems to be the recurring theme in our marriage though, wouldn't you agree?"

He had to laugh too. "Yeah. You have a point there."

"Did I tell you much about my family last night?" She asked.

"You only mentioned your mom briefly and the nickname origin story." He told her.

"Ok." She nodded. "In the interest of sharing like you shared, I'll tell you about my family. I am an only child. My father left my mom and I when I was two. I haven't seen him since then. My mom had to work two jobs just to support us and she died in a car accident when I was nineteen."

"I'm sorry about your mom." He told her.

"I'm sorry about your brother and cousin." She gave him a small smile.

"Thanks." He said. "So maybe we should try talking about something less depressing?"

She laughed. "Yeah. Maybe."

"So, what is your favorite type of food?" Lucy asked.

"Wow, well I like a little bit of everything." He chuckled. "But I'm not really a big fan of Thai food. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say either Italian or Chinese. How about you?"

"Italian." She smiled. "There's no doubt about it."

"Alright, here is your bruschetta with smoked mozzarella." The waiter announced, placing the tray in between them. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, but thank you." He told the waiter.

* * *

"Did you come to the convention by yourself?" He asked as they started to eat their dinner.

"I came by myself." She answered.

"Really?" He chuckled. "County also sent Peter, uh, Dr. Benton. He's a surgeon."

She smirked. "Let me guess…he was the guy at the mixer you pointed out to see if I could properly tell between surgeons and ER docs?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"I'm not sure that was entirely fair." She laughed.

"Maybe not." He chuckled.

"Well, my hospital wanted to send someone from emergency medicine, but no one apparently wanted to come." Lucy explained. "So do you get along well with Peter?"

He laughed. "Sometimes…it depends. He was actually my teacher when I was in surgery. There are times I think we are friends and then other times it just seems like he is constantly annoyed by my presence. But I think that is just the way he is. He's a very intense man."

"Sounds like it."

"He's had it rough the last few years. His son was born deaf and so it's been a struggle to adjust to that. Then he had a custody battle with the mother and some professional squabbles with the chief of surgery that got him in some trouble. He's a good guy though. I know that if I truly needed help, he would be the first one there."

"That's good." She nodded.

"You could meet him tomorrow if you want." He offered. "I'm meeting him in the lobby of the hotel at 10 so we can carpool to the airport."

"Maybe." She shrugged.

"What time are you going to the airport?" He asked. "Maybe we could all ride together."

"Oh, I have a later flight tomorrow." She explained. "So I'm not going to the airport until after noon."

"Oh. Ok."

"So tell me more about your coworkers." She said.

"Well, there is Dr. Mark Greene. He's been at County for many, many years. He's kind of like everyone's mentor because he's one of the best doctors we have and he treats everyone with respect. He is dating Susan Lewis, who is one of our other doctors. They had this flirtation years ago before she moved away. She actually moved back about a year ago and now they are inseparable. Abby is the head nurse of the ER and she is engaged to Luca Kovac, another one of the doctors. Dave Malucci is another doctor, but he is quite a character. I'm actually surprised he hasn't been fired yet for some of the things he says and the way he acts sometimes."

"Then we have Kerry Weaver, who is in charge of the ER. She's tough and not many people like her approach to management. But she cares more about the ER than anyone else in the hospital. On the surgical side we have Peter, who I have told you about. Elizabeth Corday is the associate Chief of Surgery. She is a great surgeon and a wonderful person. Her only flaw is that she married the Chief of Surgery, Robert "Rocket" Romano."

"Rocket?" She laughed.

"It's his nickname." He explained. "I think he gave the nickname to himself."

"I take it you don't like him?"

"No one really likes him…except Elizabeth. I don't know if she is blind or if she somehow sees something no one else can. But he is the most rude, arrogant, selfish little bastard I've ever met."

She laughed again. "Wow, you really don't like him."

"I don't care much for him. Sorry." He laughed.

"It's fine." She watched his eyes light up as he talked about his coworkers and realized that his coworkers were more like his family. It made sense given what he told her about his actual family. It also made sense because of the amount of time he spent with his coworkers.

There was an awkward pause. "So tell me more about your best friend. Does she always Google the guys you date?"

Lucy laughed. "Um, no…not usually. I don't usually date because I am not sure I really believe in relationships anymore."

"Oh."

She could tell from the look on his face that he wasn't sure what to say, so she explained more. "I had a really bad breakup several years ago, and ever since then I've been kind of gun-shy about depending on someone else. I don't want to get hurt again, so…"

"So you just don't put yourself out there anymore?" He finished her explanation for her.

And he was right. She wasn't putting herself out there anymore. She got what she needed through mutual arrangements and she thought that was fine. She thought that was enough.

It had been several years since she had gone out on an actual date. But this…this date with John was nice and she was enjoying herself. The same thoughts kept popping up in her mind this evening like a mole in the whack-a-mole game…

 _What if it was fate that you two met and got married? What if he is the one you've been waiting for?_

She kept smacking the thoughts away though, not ready to explore if they held any truth.

"I get it." He continued. "It's scary to put yourself out back out there."

"Yes. It is." She sighed.

* * *

They walked to her hotel room door. "So…"

"I had a good time tonight." She told him.

"You act surprised by that." He chuckled.

"It's because I kind of am surprised by it." She laughed. "I didn't expect to have this good of a time."

"So what are you thinking?" He asked.

She sighed. All during dinner she had been going back and forth in her mind about whether to get an annulment or try a relationship for a month. There was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to take him into her hotel room, have sober sex with him all night and agree to the month. But there was also a part of her that was terrified of letting him into her life.

"Can I say something before you make your decision?"

"Sure." She nodded.

"I like you Lucy. I really like you. You're smart, funny and obviously very attractive. I like the way you laugh and the way you call me John when everyone else in my life calls me Carter. I like spending time with you, both drunk and sober. And I want to continue to explore where this could take us. But it's your decision."

He took her hands in his. "I know you said you had a bad breakup in the past and I can tell that it shook you up…you still seem shaken up by it. And I don't know the specifics…you don't have to tell me that right now…but I'd love it if you could just trust me when I tell you that I have absolutely no intention of hurting you."

She didn't realize that everyone else called him Carter. To her, he had been John and calling him Carter would seem weird. She wanted to believe that he wouldn't hurt her, but it was still hard for her to trust.

"John…"

"You're going to say no." He said softly. "Aren't you?"

She didn't say anything, choosing instead to just slowly nod.

He let go of her hands and put his hands in his pocket. Then he took a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry." She apologized. "I swear it isn't you. I just…"

"It's ok." He said, cutting her off. "The reason doesn't matter in the end. I told you that if after dinner you still wanted the annulment, I would give it to you. So I will."

He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Goodbye Lucy."

She watched him turn around walk away, not sure what to do. She thought that she would feel better once she told him she wanted the annulment. So why did she suddenly feel worse?

* * *

Carter sighed as he waited in the lobby for Peter the next day. He didn't get a lot of sleep. He tried, but he was awake most of the night staring at the ceiling and wondering what he could have done differently to get Lucy to take a chance on him. He had been certain during dinner that they were making an honest connection and that she was leaning towards giving him the month to determine their compatibility. Then all of his hopes were dashed at the end of the evening.

He saw Peter walking towards him and was grateful. He just wanted to get out of this town and go home.

"Hey." Peter greeted. "You ready?"

"I've been ready. You're late."

"Only by two minutes." Peter scoffed.

"That's still late."

"What is wrong with you, Carter?" He asked.

"Nothing." Carter sighed. "Let's just go. The sooner we leave, the sooner I can say goodbye to this stupid city."

Peter laughed. "I take it you had a fight with you wife last night and that is the reason for this delightful attitude this morning?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"No, probably not because I've never married a complete stranger in a strange city." Peter chuckled.

"Can we please just get moving?" He sighed.

"Sure."

Carter picked up his bag and followed Peter towards the exit. They were almost out of the hotel when he heard his name being called.

"John!"

He turned around to see Lucy running towards him.

"What are you doing?" He asked when she stopped a couple of feet away from him.

"I was trying to catch you before you left." She explained.

He saw she glanced at Peter, who was now standing next to him. "This is Peter Benton…Peter, this is Lucy Knight."

"Is this the wife?" Peter asked quietly.

"Yes." Carter nodded.

"It's nice to meet you, Lucy." Peter greeted, holding out his hand.

"You too." She smiled.

"Can you give us a moment?" Carter asked Peter. "Maybe go get us a cab?"

"Sure." Peter chuckled.

"So…"

"I wanted to apologize again." She told him.

"It's not necessary." He assured her.

"Yeah." She sighed. "It kind of is. I have been thinking about it all night and here's the thing. I don't want to go into the reasons right now for why I have run away from relationships. It's not the time or the place for that kind of talk. But I do. I run away as fast as possible from anything that could possibly, remotely turn into anything resembling a relationship. It's kind of a compulsion of mine that I haven't been able to stop."

"It's ok." He told her, wondering where she was going with this.

"No, it's not really ok." She chuckled nervously. "I like you. I like you a lot actually, and it scares me more than you could ever realize. I thought that turning you down last night would make me feel better and make me relieved somehow. But all it did was keep me awake last night wondering if I had just made a big mistake."

She paused for a moment. He still wasn't sure where she was going with this speech but wasn't sure he should get his hopes up just yet.

"And I came to the conclusion that I think I may have made a mistake saying no to your month idea last night. You're the only one in years that has made me even think about taking a chance and putting myself out there. And I don't want to watch you leave today always wondering what have happened if I rolled the dice and took a chance on us."

"Really?" He asked.

"Really." She smiled. "That is, if you think you might want to roll the dice too?"

"I absolutely do." He smiled. He was surprised when she threw her arms around him and planted a slow kiss on his lips. He wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her closer to him. He reluctantly pulled away when he realized he needed to breathe.

She stepped back to where she had been standing and pulled a card from her back pocket. "Here."

He took the card from her hand.

"It's my business card. On the back has my personal cell number, as well as every social media username for every app I'm a part of. So the ball is now in your court." She explained.

"I'm going to call you later." He promised.

"Ok." She smiled.

He closed the gap between them one more time to give her another kiss. Then he rested his forehead against hers. "I'm going to make sure you don't regret this." He whispered.

"You should go before I make you miss your flight." She reminded him.

"Bye." He kissed her cheek and then turned around, leaving her behind.


	4. Welcome to Chicago

Gamble Everything For Love

Chapter Four

A Week Later

Lucy took a deep breath as she walked to the baggage claim area. That's where she was supposed to meet up with John. Saying she was nervous would be one of the biggest understatements of the century. The past week had been kind of nice as they texted each other through the day and had used Facetime to have some good conversations.

But now it was time for them to meet up again and for her to see what his life was like. She couldn't help but think about what would happen if she didn't fit in with his life. Or what would happen if she did fit in here. Was she ready to commit her life to him and pursue a relationship together? If they ultimately decided to stay married, who would move where? They obviously couldn't live in different states and be married.

Of course she realized she was freaking out about things that might not matter in the long run. They might find out in the next three weeks that they really don't like each other or that their lives simply weren't compatible with each other.

She should instead worry about the things that will immediately matter. Like are they going to sleep in the same bed? Will they have sex? Did she want to have sex with him? Did he want to have sex with her?

There was just too much swirling around in her brain so she tried to quiet the noise. Seeing her bag, she quickly grabbed it from the conveyor belt and looked around for John.

A few moments later she found him walking towards her with one hand behind his back. "Hey." She greeted with a smile.

"Hey." He smiled back. He pulled his hand from behind his back to give her a red rose. "This is for you. Welcome to Chicago."

"Thank you." She took the rose and smelled it. Somehow the scent managed to calm her fears slightly and she was grateful.

He grabbed her bag from him.

"You don't have to…"

"Yes I do." He laughed. "You shouldn't have to carry your own bag."

"Well thanks." She shouldn't have been surprised that he was being such a nice guy to her. He really seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

"So how was your flight?" He asked as they walked towards the parking garage.

"It was fine." She shrugged. "It was short and there was no turbulence."

"Great." He smiled. "I'm glad I wasn't late to pick you up. I was worried because I got out of work late. There was an mva trauma that came in."

"Was everyone ok?" She asked.

"The little girl will have to have surgery but I'm sure she will be alright. The dad is in worse shape, but hopefully he will be alright too."

"Hopefully."

"So this is your first time in Chicago, right?"

"Yes." She smiled.

"Is there anything special you want to see or do while you are here?" He asked.

"Navy Pier." She replied immediately. "It looks like so much fun and I love ferris wheels."

"Ok." He nodded. "We can definitely go to Navy Pier. Anything else?"

"Not that I know of." She said. "We can go wherever you want."

He stopped in front of a beaten up old Jeep and clicked the key fob in his hand.

"This is your car?" She grinned.

"Yes." He nodded. "Why?"

"No reason." She chuckled as she got in on the passenger side.

"No. C'mon." He told her after he got in. "Now you have to tell me what the grin was about."

"I just…Well I guess I didn't expect you to own something like this. I thought maybe you would drive a…"

"Porche?" He chuckled. "Corvette? Maybe a limo?"

"You can make fun of it but it was a valid thought!" She laughed.

"Yeah. I know." He smiled. "I bought this Jeep myself many years ago, and while it is getting old and I'll need to replace it soon, I haven't had the heart to get rid of it."

She couldn't help but laugh a little more. "How old is it?"

"Fifteen years." He chuckled.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "What kind of a car do you drive?"

"It's a four year old Nissan Altima." She told him. "You know you could always get another Jeep like this one, only from this actual decade."

He chuckled. "I guess you're right. It's just that this was my first car and I'm a little sentimental about it."

"That's understandable." She shrugged, letting it go.

"So what would you like for dinner tonight?" He asked.

"I don't know." She shook her head.

"Well I was thinking that you might be too tired to go out, so maybe we could stay in tonight? I mean, we can go out if you feel like it, but there is definitely no pressure to go out."

She had worked most of the day and then grabbed a flight to come here, so going out was the last thing she wanted to do. It was nice of him to realize that. "Staying in sounds great. How about Chinese?"

"Ok." He looked over and smiled at her. "Chinese it is."

* * *

They pulled up to his brownstone and his parked on the curb, amazed that he actually found a spot in front of his building for once. That hardly ever happened. Lucy must be a lucky charm.

"Ok. We're here." He pointed to the brownstone and watched her look through the window.

"You live here?"

"Yeah." He smiled.

"It looks beautiful from the outside."

He got out of the Jeep and opened the back to get her bag. Then he met her at the front door. "So in the interest of full disclosure, usually my place isn't this clean. But since you were coming, I cleaned everything up."

She smiled. "Well thank you."

He unlocked the door and let her go in first. He watched from the entryway as she went from room to room, looking around. She then came back to where he was standing.

"You have a nice place."

"Thanks." He nodded. Then he pointed to the stairs. "Upstairs is the bedroom and another bathroom."

"There's just one bedroom?" She questioned.

He wasn't sure she was aware that there was a look of panic on her face. But it was there and he felt bad about it. "Yeah. But I planned on giving you the bedroom." He watched the panic go away. "I'll be sleeping down here on the couch."

"You might just be one of the last gentlemen left on this planet." She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He couldn't help but grin from ear to ear after that. It wasn't a kiss on the lips, but the cheek was a nice place to start. "I'll go put your bag upstairs. Feel free to make yourself at home."

* * *

Later that evening they were both sitting on his couch and eating dinner. "Can you please pass me a napkin?"

"Sure."

He grabbed the napkin from her hand and smiled. "Thank you, by the way."

He watched her laugh.

"You don't have to thank me. It was just a napkin."

"It wasn't just for that." He grinned. "I meant also thank you for coming here like this. I know this whole situation is unconventional and weird."

"Yes, it certainly is those things."

"And I was worried that you may not actually show up…or that you would show up and we wouldn't have anything to talk about."

"I was worried about that too." She paused for a moment. "Have you told anyone that you got married?"

"No." He shook his head. "I didn't want to have to answer a bunch of different questions about it. I also didn't want it to be awkward for you when you came here. Everyone at work has good intentions but if they knew we were married, they would never leave you alone. So Peter is still the only one who knows."

"I haven't told anyone other than Mel either."

He nodded, glad that she had her best friend to talk this situation over with because he didn't really have that. Although Peter knew about the situation, the surgeon wasn't the best person to go to with personal problems like this. So he had been keeping all of his thoughts and feelings about what was going on to himself. He remembered what happened when he tried to talk to the man about it a few days ago.

" _Hey Peter, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked as he saw the man leave a trauma room._

" _Sure." He nodded. "What's up?"_

" _I wanted to talk to you about Lucy."_

 _Peter laughed. "You having problems with your new wife?"_

" _Can you please keep it down?" He asked. "I don't want everyone to know about this."_

" _Why not?"_

" _There's too much pressure right now to make this work as it is." Carter explained. "I don't need the nurses making a pool on how long this marriage will last."_

 _Peter laughed. "Yeah, and you know that would be the first thing they would do."_

" _Exactly." Carter nodded. "You're the only one who knows about this. I need some advice."_

" _Sorry. But I don't know how I could possibly help you with this. I've never been in your situation before."_

" _I know." Carter sighed. "But what do you think I should do? Because we've been texting and Facetiming. Everything's been going pretty well. I just don't know…"_

" _Carter, man…listen. You're an adult and you have to handle this as an adult. You chose to continue with this strange marriage so you need to figure it out."_

" _But I just…"_

" _Sorry." Peter sighed. "You're on your own with this one."_

He had gotten nowhere asking Peter for help. That was just one of the many reasons he was glad that Lucy was here this week. Although the Facetime conversations were good and he felt like they were slowly getting to know more about each other, there was only so much you could learn from the other person through Facetime. And to be honest he had missed her. It felt weird to say that considering how little time they had spent together. But he truly did miss her.

He wanted this to work out between them so badly. There was something about her that was almost addictive. He also wanted to sleep in the same bed as her this week…not because he was expecting sex though. He simply wanted to be near her, but he didn't think that was a good idea unless she initiated it. So he decided to let her have his bedroom and he would sleep on the couch.

It was the gentlemanly thing to do, and he didn't mind sleeping on the lumpy couch if it meant Lucy felt more comfortable. Plus it seemed to make her happy.

"I kind of thought if I told anyone they might think I was crazy for coming here." She admitted.

He smiled and couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you think you are crazy for coming here?"

She took a while to answer and he started to become worried.

"I don't think I'm crazy for coming here." She finally answered. "In all honesty, after I stopped you in the lobby of the hotel and agreed to this I went back to my room and wondered what the hell I was doing. But my second guessing doesn't have to do with you…it comes more from my own personal issues with relationships."

He could tell that she had been burned by at least one guy in her life. It was also possible that multiple relationships had gone badly in her life. But as much as he wanted to know why she was so hesitant about relationships, he wasn't going to pressure her into telling him. He just hoped she would feel comfortable enough to tell him eventually.

"I just feel like most people wouldn't be able to understand what we're doing." She added.

"It makes sense to me." He chuckled.

She smiled. "Me too."

"And that's all that really matters."

"I guess so." She was quiet for a moment. "So what is on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"I unfortunately have to work until 6 so you have almost the whole day to explore the city. Then I was thinking we could go out to dinner? Maybe dancing somewhere? Or a movie?"

"Ok." She nodded. Her nod turned into a yawn. "Sorry."

"It's fine." He assured her. "Are you getting sleepy?"

"Yeah." She admitted.

"I am too." He chuckled.

"I think if it's ok with you I might go to bed."

"It's fine." He nodded. "I have to get up early tomorrow morning anyway."

She stood up. "Ok then. I guess this is goodnight."

"If you need anything, like extra towels or blankets, just let me know."

He stood up too. Unsure of what to do, he stared at her for a moment. Then he went in for a hug. He was relieved when she returned the hug and placed her head on his shoulder. It gave him the courage he needed to place a kiss on the top of her head.

"Goodnight." He watched her walk out of the room and sighed. This wasn't as awkward as he thought it would be, but there were still awkward moments…like that one.

* * *

Lucy entered the bedroom after changing into pajamas in the bathroom and looked around the room. It was painted a dark blue color, with dark wooden furniture. She couldn't help herself as she walked around the room and looked in the drawers.

She knew it was wrong to be snooping on him. After all, this was his personal space. But she wondered if there was something she could learn about him from his bedroom. There was nothing new in the drawers of his bureau that gave her any insight into him. She already knew that he wore boxers so even his underwear drawer held no surprises.

She went to the first nightstand and saw a short pile of books. They were all mystery books. That was something she didn't expect for him to be interested in. The bottom one was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. The second one was 1st to Die by James Patterson and the top one was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

She picked up the top one and quickly thumbed through it. She had read this book several years ago in high school and remembered enjoying it. After a moment, she put it back on the nightstand and went over to the other nightstand. What she saw there surprised her.

She had scanned the photo they had taken after they got married and sent it to him. He then must have gotten it printed out and framed because it was sitting on his nightstand. She sat on the bed and picked up the frame. It was sweet that he had put it there.

After a while she put the frame back where she found it.

She was glad that he had given her the bedroom and was going to sleep on the couch, but it did fill her with feelings of guilt for essentially kicking him out of his own bed. She was aware that her feelings didn't make much sense and were contradictory. But this was a confusing situation.

She climbed under the covers and turned out the light. His bed was comfortable, almost more comfortable than the bed she had at home. She hoped his couch was comfortable too. Surprisingly it didn't take her long to fall asleep.


End file.
